In Minnesota, and especially in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area, the newspapers do not publish bankruptcies of ordinary people.
But wait!
I know you are thinking that you have seen a bankruptcy column in the Star Tribune.
The Star Tribune does publish larger business bankruptcies, but they do not publish personal bankruptcies, or bankruptcies for small companies like contractors.
This list is usually published on Mondays, and there are usually fewer than 10 companies listed.
WHY DON’T NEWSPAPERS PUBLISH BANKRUPTCIES IN MINNESOTA?
In Minnesota there are approximately 1,000 bankruptcies filed per month.
This means that:
- About 45 people file Chapter 7 bankruptcy or Chapter 13 bankruptcy every single day (assuming that they don’t file on weekends)
- This works out to 225 people per week
- 225 people would take up lots of space on the page, and for the most part nobody is interested in reading about the bankruptcies of people they have never met
Newspapers only print things that their readers find interesting, so they won’t use valuable space for ordinary bankruptcies.
The newspaper lists business bankruptcies because many members of the community are involved in these.
Business bankruptcies tend to affect:
- Employees
- Suppliers,
- Customers
After all, wouldn’t you want to know if your employer or a supplier or customer filed for bankruptcy?
WHERE DOES BANKRUPTCY GET REPORTED OR LISTED?
A bankruptcy petition is a public record, and anyone who goes to the bankruptcy court and browses their file system will be able to read it.
The government also has a website called PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) where you can search for bankruptcies and other federal court cases, but website, however, is not free.
- To look at someone’s bankruptcy you must search for them, and then pay $.10 per page to see the document
- Bankruptcy petitions are often more than 60 pages long, so this can cost over $6
To most people, this simply isn’t worth the trouble.
Some newspapers in smaller towns and communities do list bankruptcies.
However, this article should not be read to say that no publication anywhere in Minnesota would ever publish a bankruptcy.
In my experience, having filed over 40,000 cases, bankruptcies for ordinary people do not appear in the newspaper, so filing for bankruptcy in Minnesota is not something to be afraid of.
Conclusion
If you would like personalized legal advice about how a bankruptcy would work for you, then please don’t hesitate to call me at 612. 824.4357 to set up a free consultation in Minneapolis, St Paul, Blaine or Brooklyn Park. You can also use the contact functions of this website.
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